Welcome to the United Nations
This year is a special one for OECD – United Nations relations, marking the 20th anniversary of the Organisation’s participation, as a Permanent Observer, in the work of the UN General Assembly. It is a relationship that continues to grow from strength to strength.
The OECD is proud to have participated in the development of the precursor to the SDGs – the Millennium Development Goals. They succeeded in focusing minds, and in bringing international support where it was most needed. The SDGs, however, aim to reflect the world that we live in today – and the one that we want to live in thirteen years from now.
The SDGs encourage us to take a fresh look. This means designing solutions to tackle poverty and inequality, wherever they may exist, and promoting green growth. It also means looking more closely at the interlinkages between Goals, and obstacles, and to find the right policies to manage trade-offs and complementarities. Finally, we need to look at all resources – public and private, domestic and international – and to see how they can best be pieced together to achieve lasting prosperity for all.
The focus of this year’s UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on “Transformation towards Sustainable and Resilient Societies” resonates well with our efforts at the OECD to put people and well-being at the centre of all policy making. The OECD’s mission to promote better lives drives our ambition to help countries design policies that concentrate on quality, equity, and fairness for growth that is sustainable, inclusive and robust.
The 2030 Agenda gives us a blueprint. We now need to deliver it. The OECD’s Action Plan on the Sustainable Development Goals sets out some of the ways in which our Organisation can support countries as they work to deliver on the Goals. In March this year, we had the opportunity to take stock of progress in these and other efforts at a special meeting of the OECD Council with partners, bringing together Ministers and senior officials from over 60 countries and organisations. I cannot stress enough the importance of continued dialogue and the sharing of experiences among countries at all levels of development as they embark on the challenges of implementing the SDGs.
The HLPF plays a crucial role in sustaining momentum, in providing a setting for the exchange of ideas, and in helping to raise the bar. The OECD will continue to play its part, putting its know-how, evidence, and tools at the disposal of interested countries. In all of these efforts and others, the OECD will continue to work with and for the United Nations in the design, development and delivery of Better Policies for Better Lives.
Angel Gurría
Secretary-General
